Fashion

Anyway GIVEAWAY WINNERS

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Anyway GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Anyway Juliette Has A Gun FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 5 winners who will each receive:

1 x 10ml decant of Anyway by Juliette Has A Gun
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Closed Sunday 2nd March 2014 10pm Australian EST
Winners were chosen by random.org

Winners Are shannonmayer

Photo Stolen shannonmayer

Jaybee, Katherine Mittas, Azar,

LeanS12 (via Twitter), Damir Gašljević (via twitter)

CONGRATULATIONS!! The winners will have till Friday 7th March 2014 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.

Special THANKS to LibertineParfumerie for these amazing giveaways. Please visit their site because they are so generous and helpful. If you wonder why they are sometimes more expensive than the discounters or OS retailers it’s because they are the only licensed company selling their fragrances in Australia; where you know you are buying new, fresh and genuine product. The cost of importing, and buying the right to import, alcohol based fragrances (and having the right to send alcohol based fragrances throughout Australia, which are illegal to send in the Australia Post air system) is expensive and they must cover their costs to bring you these luxury goods.

Pentachords White by Andy Tauer for Tauer Perfumes 2011

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Post by Sister Mary Magdalen, Patron Saint of Perfumers

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Fragrance lovers, today I pray your indulgence as I sing a hymn to my favourite note in perfumery: Violet.

So unfashionable, I know. She has not the vampish allure of look-at-me Tuberose. She lacks the ballsy ubiquitous oomph of oudh. No, gentle reader, I languish in the limpid embrace of a shy flower. Her beguiling gaze from a by-gone time first lured this poor soul into the bottomless, limitless, wallet-emptying world of fragrance obsession.

My adoration for her is such, that I am not content merely to spray and smell, I must also consume violet creme chocolates, candies, liqueurs… anything really. Recently, after much searching, I procured a bottle of violet flavouring. Power up! Now I can have violet cereal. Violet anything!

Hence last week saw me whipping up a batch of vanilla butter cupcakes. They were in the oven and I was taste-testing the intensity of the violet white chocolate ganache that would soon adorn them, when I heard the all-too-familiar knock of my parcel postman at my front door. “My Tauer Explorer Sets!” I realised but even more delight was in store for that Swiss devil had included samples, one of which I had been fantasising about since first I read the list of notes:

Pentachords White by Andy Tauer for Tauer Perfumes 2011

Pentachords White Tauer Perfumes FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Vanilla, violet, amber, iris, Brazillian rosewood, orris.

Of course I sprayed away without delay and was immediately delighted by a clear violet and vanilla that stunned me with pleasure. Perhaps this explains my weakness: violet is key to a bliss lock in my brain. Andy Tauer shares his process via a generous and genial blog, so I know that he has used the particularly narcotic violet aromachemical – alpha ironine – in Pentachords White. Despite these gourmand sounding notes and a subsequent dusting of icing sugar that seems to fall on the starring pair of violet and vanilla, the overall fragrant impression is very dry. The blog tells me this is because the composition rests on Ambroxan. The salty, buzzy rasp of it is evident, but to my nose, exquisitely balanced. It radiates and gives structure, but does not dominate.

Pentachords White Tauer Perfumes Violets U.S. Fish and Wildlife... FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

The longevity of Pentachords White is impressive, and the fragrance holds together. No element outlasts the others. To my nose, this is an all-night heavenly disco where Violet and Vanilla dance on a warm wooden floor whilst the Iris smoke machine and Ambroxan mirrorball add haze and scatter.

I’m fascinated by the idea of these Pentachords. I have now tried them all, and Pentachords White is truly the standout for me. This is not just due to my love of the violet, but also to my perception that this one much more than Auburn and Verdant successfully translates the 5 note concept. White truly is an unresolved tension between 5 points in space. It shimmers.

Pentachords White Tauer Perfumes Shimmer danielle defrancesco FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

The play of oppositions in this scent is enthralling. Somehow Pentachords White manages to be sheer and abstract, yet alive on my skin. It oscillates between warmth and coolness. One moment a toothsome hologram of a violet ganache vanilla butter cupcake will loom in view (such synchronicity with my baking!), then a buzzing menace reminds that this sweet little treat just might bite back.

Further Reading: Smelly Thoughts and Now Smell This
LuckyScent has $150/50ml
Tauer Perfumes has $34.70/5 x 1.5ml Discovery set

Which of the Andy Tauer fragrances have you tried or did you like?

Sister Mary Magdelene, Patron Saint of Perfumers.

Un Matin d’Orage by Isabelle Doyen for Annick Goutal 2009

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Post by SarahK

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Hello all!

Have you ever had one of those moments when a scent hits your nose and you’re stunned by its exquisite beauty? That was my reaction to my first sniff of Annick Goutal’s Un Matin d’Orage (EDT).

Un Matin d’Orage by Isabelle Doyen for Annick Goutal 2009

Un Matin d`Orage Annick Goutal FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Sicilian lemon, ginger, green notes
Heart: Gardenia, shiso leaves, magnolia, champaca flowers, Indonesian jasmine
Base: Sandalwood

Un Matin d’Orage opens with the prettiness of a forest nymph in a Botticelli painting. She arrives carrying bridal white gardenias, but they aren’t heady and overwhelming. These flowers are fresh and slightly earthy, with a true-to-life mushroom note, and underneath her prettiness the nymph has a backbone of green wood, like the forest she came from. The heart of Un Matin d’Orage expands to become an entire gardenia-filled garden right after a rainstorm. Under the wafting scent of the flowers is a layer of greener and watery notes, like the stems of plants, broken under the weight of the rain. In summer, the effect is of a tropical rainstorm, or like walking into a hothouse, misty with water-spray, the scent of the flowers suspended in water droplets. In winter, the effect is a touch more bracing on me, like a rain-soaked garden in spring. The verdant floral notes soften over time, but are still there in the dry-down, which also reveals some green sandalwood.

Un Matin d`Orage Botticelli-primavera WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

My husband never makes comments on my perfume, good or bad, but whenever I wear this he snuggles up extra-close to me, so clearly something smells good, though I don’t think of this as a sexy scent at all. In summer I can get away with spraying liberally, but cold weather sometimes brings out a little bitterness in the green notes. It’s not an unpleasant effect to me – in fact I find it adds to the interest of the fragrance – but it does mean that I like to bring my spray count down in winter.

I love to put a single spray of this on my pillow at night for happy dreams. Once, I accidentally aimed a spritz at my mobile phone and for weeks afterwards the heavenly scent would waft up every time I used the phone, putting a big smile on my face.

Un Matin d`Orage Annick Goutal Storms Jason Hunter FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

In cold weather this fragrance can last an impressively long time on my skin. It’s often still detectable on my skin 10 hours in. I should note, though, that the same goes for Chanel’s 28 La Pausa, which is famously short-lived on others so it could just be my skin. In hotter weather, Un Matin d’Orage doesn’t seem to last half as long, but she’s lovely while she’s there.

Further reading:
Beauty Encounter has a $49/50ml EdT and 100ml Body Cream Gift Set
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $4/ml

What fragrances have brought you up short with their beauty?

SarahK

Annick Goutal (1948-99) on APJ previously.

Annick Goutal Biography,
Eau de Sud/Songes/Mandragore,
Eau d”Hadrien/Eau de Camille/Ce Soir Ou Jamais,
Passion/Un Matin d’Orage/Ambre Fetiche,
Mandragore Pourpe,
Songes,
Grand Amour,
Rose Splendide,
Nuit Etoilée and
Duel
Mon Parfum Cherie Par Camille

Oude Arabique by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz for DSH Perfumes

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Hello my APJ Family and Friends,

As you may have noticed I love the independent perfumers that make good fragrances. Dawn Spencer Hurwitz is one of them for me, her work is innovative, original, fun and sometimes challenging. She can take a tired note and refresh it so even the most jaded of palettes will be brought back to full attention.

Oude Arabique by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz for DSH Perfumes

Oude Arabique DSH Perfumes FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Tolu balsam, resin, mastic
Heart: Agarwood, incense, sandalwood
Base: Australian sandalwood, buddahwood, Himalayan cedar, tolu balsam

So straight out of the decant I get a very heavy Pine-o-Clean disinfectant note that lasts about 5 seconds and then turns into a medicinal, bitter scent that lasts under a minute. It’s ferocious and fun. Sadly it doesn’t last and the whole fragrance softens off considerably. My advice is take a deep breath and spritz, letting your breath out very slowly if you want to miss the opening fireworks. Give Oude Arabique at least 30 seconds to burn off before your initial sniff.

Oude Arabique DSH Perfumes prophets-mosque FotoCommunityPhoto Stolen FotoCommunity

I am unsure about the oudh here, it smells pretty damn real to my nose (which we have ascertained over two years is not always on point). There is a faint hint of bandaid and barnyard but really the resins and woods are the stars in Oude Arabique for the main part. They are raw and fresh hewn, only slightly buttery through the heart of the fragrance and the resins supply some fat and animalics. I read in one review that there is some ambergris floating around which could be the something tangy and beachy, working with the oudh to create an extremely pleasant fragrance that is obviously niche and with what smells like some quality natural ingredients too. Subtle, nuanced and pretty yet still a fragrant wear, projection is not huge but you do change the air around you if you sit for some time. It’s a creeper of a fragrance, sending out woodsy tendrils to capture the unwary. About 2 hours of fragrant before going close and then another couple of hours humming on your skin softly, waiting for someone to come close enough before it can lure them in.

Oude Arabique DSH Perfumes bath_house WikipediaPhoto Stolen Wikipedia

Although this would generally be thought of as a masculine any women with the want could definitely rock this like crazy. I’d love to smell it on some of my very girly girlfriends, it would create a super interesting disconnect that would be incredibly alluring. MMM My mind is wondering who of my friends to take it to.

Further reading: EauMG and All I Am A Redhead

DSHPerfumes has EdP and Parfum strengths starting at $5
Surrender To Chance has samples starting at $11/ml

To Russia With Love: Courtney Act: 2014

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Heya All,

This is one of my mates, Courtney. She is currently starring on RuPaul’s Drag Race and here is her latest single’s video clip. The song is her best so far and I have had it on repeat since returning back from overseas. It’s also a big fat finger to Russia’s Vladamir Putin who seems to think it’s one rule for him and another for his people.

Today is Mardi Gras in Sydney, our biggest celebration of the year. Though we are not equal in the eyes of the law we hope it may come soon.

You can follow Courtney Act on FaceBook to see some of her crazy adventures.

To russia With Love Courtney Act

I hope you enjoy To Russia With Love, it’s available on iTunes.
Portia xxx

Anyway by Romano Ricci for Juliette Has A Gun 2013

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 28 Comments

Woo Hoo!

I am back on board and in the swing of things again. Life has been quite hectic playing catch up after nearly 4 weeks away. Today I payed as many bills as I could and am left with a much diminished pile of outstandings and none of them are overdue!! It feels really good, though I won’t be buying any fragrance bottles in the next couple of months

Often I write of my mate Nick from Libertine Parfumerie, he is regularly in touch with new stuff and sometimes sends APJ product for giveaways. He doesn’t have to do it and it always brightens my day to get a package from him. Please, even if you don’t enter today’s competition, go and have a look at the amazing fragrant beauties that Libertine Parfumerie has for sale, you will be astounded. Lately Nick’s buying power has become so good that some of his products are the same numerical value as you would buy them for in the USA, that means with the current Aussie dollar that they are in fact 10-15% cheaper!!! AMAZING!

Anyway by Romano Ricci for Juliette Has A Gun 2013

Anyway Juliette Has A Gun FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Neroli, lime
Heart: Jasmine
Base: Musk, hedione, woody notes, ambrox

What was I expecting here? I’m not sure but reading some reviews I was ready to instantly hate Anyway, let’s face it the name is appalling. A throwaway name for what I expected to be a throwaway fragrance. And yes, I get that “Anyway, Juliette Has A Gun” is supposed to be amusing but if less people had guns, and they were harder to get, there would be a far less mass murders done by mad (in both senses of the word) people. I wasn’t even going to try it until Anyway turned up in my postbox and then I thought “What the hell? If I’m going to give some away then I better have a wear of it and see what it’s like.”

Weirdest thing, it starts out SO FREAKING FRUITY. I know I’m supposed to be smelling citrus but I get pineapple, melon, strawberries and it’s jammy too. WOO HOO! It’s like Carmen Miranda’s hat, a Peter Allen showtune and RuPaul all rolled into one. Wildly fruity and feminine. ARARARARrRrRriiiIBAA! Cha cha cha! Normally I hate this kind of thing but for some reason Anyway strikes me as super fun. The opening is almost as outrageous as Bombay Bling on my skin but feels more sticky sweet, less grounded, younger. I like it. It stays around for quite a while in this weird, outrageous, camp, fruity melange. Anyway is completely Drag Queen fragrance and wearing it both last night and tonight at work it garnered some compliments from the crowd, through the whole evening.

Anyway Juliette Has A Gun Alpha FlickrPhoto Stolen Flickr

As the fruit burns low after about an hour to two hours there is a very interesting woodsy/oudh-ish waft that becomes slowly more apparent, like there are two fragrances on me. A celebuscent and a Middle Eastern rose/oudh oil. I get to smell this for a short while and then it disappears completely from my ability to smell it until I am smelling something else like the hotel’s kitchen, bathroom or even sitting next to someone whose fragrance is quite different, then all of a sudden I notice the whole Anyway fragrance again. Other people can still smell it though because the compliments continue, and it must have an excellent sillage because it’s usually as I’m wandering through the crowd at Trivia that I get three or four people past them and then they’ll compliment. Interesting.

I get occasional wafts of it when I’ve come home after work too, that’s around 6 hours, and beyond but I cannot tell you what it smells like exactly except kind of woodsy? Anyway, you should try it. I like it so much that I’m going to keep the bottle but we do have an amazing giveaway for you all below. Good Luck.

Portia xx

Further reading: The Candy Perfume Boy and Katie Chutzpah
Libertine Parfumerie has $186/100ml (with Australian delivery included)
Surrender To Chance has $23/4 x 2ml JHaG manufacturer carded samples (Anyway, Calamity J, Miss Charming, Romantina)

giveaway kbairdPhoto Stolen kbaird

Anyway GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have 5 winners who will each receive:

1 x 10ml decant of Anyway by Juliette Has A Gun
P&H Anywhere in the world

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Open to everyone worldwide who follows AustralianPerfumeJunkies via eMail, WordPress, Bloglovin or RSS. Please leave how you follow in the comments to be eligible. I must be able to check that you follow so if you have an email address on your gravatar that’s different to your follow address then please email me so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

and

Go to Libertine Perfumes<<<JUMP and find me a fragrance and one of its notes. NO DOUBLE UPS!!

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie @JulietteHasaGun ANYWAY GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2wf #Perfume #Giveaway @LibertineParfum

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Sunday 2nd March 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org
The winners will have till Thursday 6th March 2014 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.

Special THANKS to LibertineParfumerie for these amazing giveaways. Please visit their site because they are so generous and helpful. If you wonder why they are sometimes more expensive than the discounters or OS retailers it’s because they are the only licensed company selling their fragrances in Australia; where you know you are buying new, fresh and genuine product. The cost of importing, and buying the right to import, alcohol based fragrances (and having the right to send alcohol based fragrances throughout Australia, which are illegal to send in the Australia Post air system) is expensive and they must cover their costs to bring you these luxury goods.

Peety! by Angelo Orazio Pregoni for O'Driu 2013

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Post by Feral Jasmine

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So here’s the deal: I am not going to shut up about O’Driu Peety until I see more reviews that skip the whole bit about adding your own pee to it. It’s not that adding 10 drops of your own urine is wrong. It’s cleaner and less harmful than sniffing many aromachemicals, in my opinion, and also cleaner than many of the old naturals that we cherish when we can get them. The reason that the concept annoys me is that people tend to get caught up in the “ewwww!” factor and never quite get around to trying the perfume.

Peety! by Angelo Orazio Pregoni for O’Driu 2013

Peety: Forget the Hype, Just Smell the Perfume!

Peety O`Driu FragranticaPhoto Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Tobacco, jasmine, rose, sandalwood, tonka bean, pink pepper

That’s a pity, because Peety is lovely if you like animalics. The notes sound ordinary enough and do not really do justice to the composition. Fragrantica‘s brief description of it as a “woody floral musk” also sounds pedestrian and like something you’ve smelled a thousand times before. The single most discerning comment that I’ve read about it was by a Fragrantica commenter who called it “bearish.” This pretty much sums up Peety, except for the choice of wild animal. Personally, I think of it as “wolfish.” As in a clean and warm wolf who might sit next to you at your hearth for a while but would remain, forever and always, a wild animal and would come and go on his own terms, and just might come to your hearth with the scent of smaller prey on him. Peety is a warm, beasty smell. If you are a fan of vintage perfumes that contain some real musk, you know the warm furry scent that I refer to. Fortunately anti-cruelty laws make it impossible to use real musks these days, and Peety is tangible proof that we don’t need them. This scent also contains the single most interesting and un-kitcheny use of cinnamon that I have come across. Here’s what the maker has to say: “Rose and jasmine tingle the nose, muffled by vague suspicions of tobacco and lichens. Then, mandarin and bitter orange hurl us in a liberty world, made of fine ambers, cinnamon and pink pepper. Rounded as the brown patchouli, elegant as sandalwood and Tonka bean are. A masterpiece of technique and suggestions, Peety™ gains its strength from sub-cultural taboos, to come out of the mass-market perfumery stereotypes and to become a pure emotional footprint of the one who has it on, unique!” I guess that’s more poetic than saying “hmm, smells like a subtle use of cinnamon.”

Nature PhotographyPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Peety is perfect for evenings by the fire. I also enjoy it for evenings out, and have worn it to work, dabbed rather than sprayed and applied well before leaving the house, to acclaim from a generally perfume-hating coworker. I suspect that it may be a cold-weather scent for me, but we have enough cool spring evenings that I expect to drain my little decant well before summer comes. When I have the money I will definitely get a bottle.

Further reading: Azar hosts a wonderful interview with Peety Perfumer Angelo Orazio Pregon
O’Driu has €150/50ml and samples
Surrender to Chance has samples starting at $6/.5ml

Nonetheless, get a sample somewhere and try it. I spent a recent weekend at a wolf sanctuary, and Peety makes me feel like a congenial wolf is walking close beside me.

Feral Jasmine X

Cartier La Panthère Fragrance 2014 Ad Campaign

/ australianperfumejunkiescom
Hey hey APJ!
As you know I love some of the images that fragrance has given us over the years. Every now and then another one strikes me as particularly good, interesting, pretty or like today’s offering, in tune with what it’s trying to sell and the company it is being sold by. I like the feline, glamour night feel to this particular ad.

Cartier La Panthère Fragrance 2014 Ad Campaign

Of course I get most of my images from one of the best and most on time blogs there is: By art8amby

Peter Lindbergh photographed the campaign with Erin Wasson. (source)

Enjoy,

Portia xx

Cartier La Panthère Fragrance 2014 AdPhoto art8amby

Verveine d’Eugene by James Heeley for Heeley

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 6 Comments

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Post by Gabriella

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Hello perfumed peeps!

The best experiences on my perfume journey are those times when I have few expectations of a scent and it then totally rocks my world. So it is with Verveine d’Eugene by English perfumer James Heeley. While I adore his Ophelia and have a big soft spot for Sel Marin, Verveine d’Eugene (originally just named Verveine) never really attracted me. I had dismissed it unsniffed as a simple verbena, cologne-like scent. How wrong I was.

Verveine d’Eugene by James Heeley for Heeley

Verveine d’Eugene Heeley LuckyScentPhoto Stolen LuckyScent

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, rhubarb, cardamom
Heart: Blackcurrant, lemon verbena, jasmine
Base: White musk

Verveine does indeed open with the tartness of bergamot and lemon verbena that is instantly refreshing and dazzling in its brightness. One is reminded of drinking cold iced tea or languorously sipping a citron presse in the south of France. However, there is much more than meets the eye (or nose) here and the aromatic, almost herbal quality of the tomato leaf lends a dark, enigmatic vibe to the cheery beginning. It’s akin to entering a secret enclosed garden at the height of a midsummer’s day. There’s welcome relief in the shadows and the earthiness of the place. There’s the scent of the lemon trees dappling the light at the perimeter and the damp pungency of vines and grass, the leaves of many little shrubs fluttering in the breeze.

Verveine d’Eugene Heeley Secret_Garden WikiMediaPhoto Stolen WikiMedia

Just when you think you’ve managed to breathe in all this green beauty, you notice something else: is that jasmine you can smell? If you peer carefully, you can see the damp tendrils of the flowered vines peeking over the back wall. The small, white flowers lend a gentle sweetness to the verdant, damp surroundings.

Verveine may appear a simple composition of citrus, green and jasmine, but its story is much richer. There is a sense of elegance among the duality of fresh and dark and an overriding sense of mystery. Whilst it’s perfectly enjoyable and refreshing on a hot summer’s day, it is also a contemplative scent for those days when you just crave solitude.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/httpwwwyoumeflickrcom/8096552203/player/d1fd02a7f7

And despite some issues with longevity, it’s very much full-bottle worthy for me.

LuckyScenthas $180/100ml and samples
Peony Melbourne has $210/100ml

Have you tried Verveine d’Eugene? What scents have you had no expectations for and then fallen in love with?

With much love till next time!

M x

Sweet Anthem Perfumes – Meredith Smith, perfumer

/ australianperfumejunkiescom / 53 Comments

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Post by Azar

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In the past ten years or so the Pacific Northwest has become a hot spot for niche and indie perfumers. Our unique northwest culture of creativity and innovation, our dreary wet winters (we’ve got to come up with something to do!) and the independent spirit of many of the residents all contribute to an atmosphere that encourages our local “noses” to flourish.  Several PNW (Pacific North West) perfumers have developed international followings and have been written up and blogged about extensively throughout perfume-land. If I name a few of these perfumers I will be missing too many. Today’s post is an introduction to a PNW perfumer who is probably not as well known as some others but whose work is very popular nonetheless.

Sweet Anthem Perfumes – Meredith Smith, perfumer

Meredith Smith initially founded Sweet Anthem as a small press / independent publisher in 2001 while at college in Texas and closed the business when she went to study abroad in Eastern Europe. She began studying perfumery in 2005 while working as a graphic designer and web developer in Seattle’s Capital Hill neighborhood. Like many independent perfumers Meredith found composing a fragrance to be a natural extension of her love for creating music, visual art and poetry. Sweet Anthem evolved into an on-line perfume shop in 2007.  Three years later she left the mass design industry and began working as a full time perfumer. In October 2011 Meredith and her husband Phil purchased a live/work residence where she opened her brick and mortar Sweet Anthem storefront and workshop at street level.

Sweet Anthem #1Photo9 Stolen Sweet Anthem Perfumes

I love visiting Meredith’s tiny shop on California Street in West Seattle. She offers her own perfumes for sale, maintains a small inventory of other niche and indie brands and teaches occasional classes in the basics of perfume composition.  For more information about the Sweet Anthem product line and scent related services check out Meredith’s new website Sweet Anthem Perfumes

Recently Meredith added a sample service to her shop.  I recently received my first of four installments from Sweet Anthem’s “SA List”.  The “Spring Anthology” includes two 2ml samples of soon to be released EDPs – Poppy and Lolita, a 2ml sample of Alice and a perfume solid of an older favorite, Cath.  While I have enjoyed a number of the Sweet Anthem perfumes for several years I found that these latest fragrances have taken a slightly more sophisticated turn.

Sweet Anthen #2Photo Stolen Sweet Anthem Perfumes

Poppy, a sort of gourmand-oriental, unfolds like a flower bud in time-lapse photography.  The pointed clove quickly opens into a dark cocoa tinted with red flowers that I perceive as spicy carnations (Meredith points out that there is a trickle of saffron here as well).  After a couple of hours the gourmand heart develops and finishes as a dry, smoky incense/opium fading to musk.  While the name “Poppy” references the perfume classic Opium, I find this new scent to be kin to fragrances like DSH Café Noir and Olympic Orchids Café V, but lighter and drier. Poppy is a warm and spicy fragrance with good sillage and great longevity, a perfect scent for holing up in a cozy den, anticipating the arrival of spring.

Sweet Anthem #3Photo Stolen Sweet Anthem Perfumes

Lolita, on the other hand, is reminiscent of a warm spring afternoon, but without the muguet – thank you!  (Don’t get me wrong, I love Lily of the Valley, but it seems to have become such a seasonal cliché.)  Lolita opens with just a touch of black current, evolving to a heart of fragile and delicate cherry blossoms. I can barely detect the rosewood mentioned in the fragrance notes. The cherry blossoms linger for several hours eventually combining with and drying down to a salty sort of tonka bean.  Lolita is more intimate than Poppy but seems to last just as long on my skin and, like the movie “Lolita”, the final impression of the salty cherry blossoms evoke a youthfulness far removed from innocence.  Lolita will be mine as soon as she is available.

Giveaway Time sassisamblogPhoto Stolen sassisamblog

Sweet Anthem Perfumes US GIVEAWAY

WHAT CAN YOU WIN?

This week we will have ONE USA winner:

Who will receive:
A 2-season subscription to the Sweet Anthem “SA List” sampling program for one lucky US resident.  The  winner will receive two different sample sets.  The “Spring Anthology” will be sent right away and the “Summer Anthology” at a later date (see the subscription FAQ on the Sweet Anthem Perfumes website).
P&H to the USA

HOW DO YOU WIN?

Open to everyone in the USA (or who has a USA friend who’ll post it to them) who follows AustralianPerfumeJunkies via eMail, WordPress, Bloglovin or RSS. Please leave how you follow in the comments to be eligible. I must be able to check that you follow so if you have an email address on your gravatar that’s different to your follow address then please email me so I know. Yes, you can start following to enter, in fact it’s encouraged.

You must tell me how you follow APJ

AND

You must have a US address

AND

Leave a comment about a Sweet Anthem fragrance that you already know or about one that you would like to try

Extra Chance?
Tweet: @OzPerfumeJunkie Sweet Anthen GIVEAWAY http://wp.me/p3PURw-2uA @sweetanthem #Giveaway

HOUSEKEEPING

Entries Close Thursday 27th February 2014 10pm Australian EST and winners will be announced in a separate post.
Winners will be chosen by random.org or some other more fun way at the discretion of Azar, our host for this giveaway
The winners will have till Monday 2nd March 2014 to get in touch (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with their address or the prize will go to someone else.
No responsibility taken for lost or damaged goods in transit.

Azar xx